Is It More Efficient to Leave My Heating On?

As we move into the autumn and the weather starts to turn colder, many people’s thoughts turn to the question of whether it’s worth leaving the heating on at a low level all of the time, or whether it’s better to just run it when you need it. Which will get you the cosiest home and cut your fuel costs? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons.

As soon as your heating goes off, the house will start to get cooler, so it’s easy to understand the logic of keeping the heat on – because if you let the house go cold it will take longer to heat up, burning fuel in the process.

However, because homes are never perfectly insulated, even with the heat on there is still going to be some measure of heat loss going on. The more heat you are losing, the more fuel you will need to burn to maintain a comfortable temperature.

If you have good insulation and modern double glazing, together with a modern well-maintained boiler, the difference in cost of leaving the heat on all the time may be minimal. If you are confident in your insulation, the best way to test this is to try a week of each method.

Check the long-range weather forecast, as a sudden cold snap could distort the figures. Then read your meter and run the heating constantly for a week. At the end of this, read the meter again, and for the next week have the boiler come on twice a day. Read the meter again at the end of the second week and compare the usage between the two.

The latest smart thermostats may allow you to have different temperatures at different times of day – so you can set things a few degrees cooler at night. A modern programmer will also let you have multiple on/off cycles throughout the day and even have different settings for weekends. Adding thermostatic radiator valves can also help you keep some rooms cooler than others.